Steven Spielberg will lead juries in 2013 Cannes Film Festival

Steven Spielberg may not have won the Best Picture Oscar for Lincoln, but he has just been officially named the president of the awards jury for this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The president of the festival, Gilles Jacob, tried for years to invite Steven Spielberg, and Spielberg has never denied because of not wanting to come - he is always shooting a movie and has no time. This year, however, Spielberg can take a break from shooting movies and instead spend time watching them.

Expressing his excitement, Spielberg said in a statement, “The most prestigious of its kind, the festival has always established the motion picture as a cross cultural and generational medium,” reports E! Online.

Spielberg is not a stranger to Cannes. Zap2it reports that his first film, Sugarland Express, won for best screenplay in 1974, and in 1982 his well-known film E. T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was chosen as the festival’s closing-night selection.

Previous presidents include Tim Burton, Quentin Tarantino, and Robert De Niro. The 66th Cannes festival will run from May 15 to 26.